To ask if those of us who enjoy a sandwich for lunch are a dying breed

[JaneBerlin]

Lunchtime in the office, I'm the only one tucking into a sandwich. Everyone else seems to be jabbing away with their fork at something in a Tupperware container.

Are we butty lovers a rarity now?

Sandwiches are rotten. Can’t stand them

Ingredients for the bread I'm currently buying:

Wholemeal Wheat Flour, Water, Mixed Seeds (14%) (Sunflower Seeds, Brown Linseed, Golden Linseed, Pumpkin Seeds, Poppy Seeds), Wheat Protein, Yeast, Fermented Wheat Flour, Cracked Wheat (1%), Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed, Sustainable Palm), Vinegar, Molasses Sugar, Sustainable Soya Flour, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), With 52% Wholegrain (Wholemeal Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Cracked Wheat)

I think it's OK. Not massively different from home-made. No preservatives or emulsifiers. Tastes good, especially toasted. We'll be carrying on eating bread, like the majority of the world's population.

Don't take out of context what I wrote.
I wrote "most".
There's a cost of living crisis going on, not everyone can afford fancy bread.
Read the room.

I love sandwiches for work (meal deals) and picnics.

I don't need to take lunch anywhere, but now I want to. 🤣

I'm well aware of the CoL crisis, thank you. I feel that the people on this thread denouncing bread, which is a filling food eaten by most people in Europe, North Africa and much of Asia for millennia, are the ones not reading the room. Bread is cheap and filling. That matters for a lot of people. Yes, it would be good if mass manufactured bread didn't contain emulsifiers and so on. However, most people on a very tight budget are going to struggle to replace bread with other filling foods that are just as convenient and don't cost more.

This is the bread I mentioned, currently £1.60 on Ocado. I wouldn't count that as fancy bread. I can't justify spending a lot on sourdough and I'm not going to start making all our bread either. I have made bread in the past. It's gorgeous but I eat far more than I do of bought bread, so it's best for me not to make it often.

https://www.ocado.com/products/allinson-s-signature-seeded-361707011

Yeah, I knew people ate them, I just guess it didn’t occur to me that it was an active choice, rather than just the easiest option. I hadn’t really given it much thought, just found myself surprised by the thread.

I’m not keen on sandwiches (never have been) and can’t abide leftovers. So usually have toast or baguette with cheese. Sometimes soup.

I’m not a big fan on sandwiches and never have been. I mean I can eat one but it would be about my last choice.

I don’t know why you’re calling eating normally with cutlery (or at least a fork) “jabbing away” - or repeating this rather irritating phrase for something so normal in your update?

Leftovers is so much nicer than a sandwich as for a start it can be warm!

I love sandwiches. I also love soup and leftovers. I just love food, tbh. Some sandwiches are very dull, but there are plenty that aren't. A good amount of a tasty filling, reasonably good bread, Bob's your Uncle Bert, as people used to say (inexplicably) when I was growing up.

I agree with you! I always thought it was what people had when there was nothing else available/ needed something easy and convenient etc Not a preference!

I do like bread - there was a thread the other day where I chose it as my favourite carb. But not in the form of a sandwich.

The jabbing I would guess refers to the sound go the fork on the lunch box as people spear their pasta or tomatoes and people chasing salad leaves round the box - surprisingly noisy

But if you're eating cooked leftovers for lunch, what do you have as your evening meal? Two cooked meals a day is too heavy for a lot of people.

But the bread that people are eating in Europe, North Africa and much of Asia is a world away from what is generally bought in UK supermarkets and made into sad ham or cheese sandwiches.

I love a baguette or flatbread but don't use it to make a sandwich or eat it as part of a totally cold meal, more to mop up sauce or dip.

Nearly all my lunches are leftover dinner I just make enough to have leftovers.

But I don't understand what you mean by 'too heavy' as a meal made from meat, fish, pulses, vegetables etc is far less stodgy, healthier and less energy dense than a sandwich.

I love having two cooked meals a day. Sometimes its the same meal, like if I make pasta bake one evening for dinner there will be enough leftover for dinner the next day and my lunch the next day.

I work from home and I still always have either a sandwich or soup (sometimes both) because I can’t really be bothered making any more complicated at that time of day.

I have something a bit more exciting for dinner.

I was never keen on sandwiches as a child and used to throw mine in the bin at school and then I got diagnosed with coeliac disease and could kick my younger self for wasting all those sandwiches made with nice bread. Now sandwiches are either nice but made with ultra upf long life gluten free bread or not so nice made with less unhealthy gluten free bread (or nice made with homemade bread but only good on the day its baked really so no good for work lunches).

I guess the days of a sandwich, packet of crisps and a penguin are gone. I had this all through high school and looking back it was pretty unhealthy. No fruit. The nearest thing to a veg was the branston pickle. I think people are more health conscious now and with a pasta or rice dish in Tupperware you can incorporate some veg.

I just can't envisage eating a cooked meal twice daily.

I usually have a salad - because obviously healthier and I do absolutely love a salad.
I do really enjoy a sandwich but I always want a packet of crisps too when I have a sandwich, so it’s a rare occurrence or I’d start packing the weight on!
As a child a sandwich was a daily occurrence for lunch. My DS (3yo) doesn’t seem to be a big fan of them, will eat a little then be done. He does love a tuna melt toastie though!

I have a sandwich and a packet of crisps most days.

Why not? What is 'heavier' about cooked meals?

I find it fascinating that some people seem to think cooked food is somehow 'too much' when there's nothing about it being hot or cooked that makes it too much/more/heavier than a sandwich and often it's not the case anyway.

I love a sandwich but they have to be freshly made on decent bread - not sliced bread, cold with soggy fillings. Packed lunches in general give me the heebie jeebies though, I'd rather go hungry

If it’s a chicken sandwich I hope it was cooked